Faculty Hall of Fame

John Weeks cupped his hands into a nest as he recalled the moment as a young child when he saw four bright blue robin eggs and learned that baby birds were growing inside. At 90, he traced a lifetime of loving, teaching and preserving nature back to that defining moment on his brother’s Albion, N.Y.,

The next time you hear the ceremonial trumpets at Torchlight or Commencement, you can thank Hugh Burritt. Burritt, the former chair of the Music Department, is responsible for bringing music to SUNY Oswego ceremonies. The herald trumpets that play during public ceremonies are the original ones he bought 40 years ago. Initially, the trumpets were

In 25 years marked by “changes, challenges and celebrations,” Linda Syrell Tyrrell served three divisions at SUNY Oswego. Whether in Student Affairs, Academic Services or Administration, she was constant in her advocacy for students. Arriving in 1969 to a burgeoning campus, Tyrrell spent one year as residence hall director of Lonis-Moreland-Mackin before moving to Seneca,

Nose stuck in a book, wandering in words while his feet trod the streets of Meriden, Conn., Lewis Turco walked deliberately on a path that led to his career as a poet and professor. “I loved to read when I was a kid,” he says. “I felt that I would like to give to others

Emily Oaks, Ph.D., plunges a well-used shovel into sandy dirt behind her Sterling farmhouse to lift a Monarda Didyma from the earth. She cradles its tangled roots in her hands and slides them, dirt and all, into a bag to be given to a friend. The friend will replant, relish the beauty of the fringed

In the cozy dining room of his home on the west side of Oswego, Professor Emeritus of History Luciano Iorizzo positions his beloved stand-up bass next to a grandfather clock. It’s a favorite of his wife of 60 years, Marilee, and it stands near a print by Professor Emeritus of Art Tom Seawell, “American Album

Professor Emeritus of Education Raymond Bridgers Jr. readily admits that if someone had told him as a high school student that he would become a teacher, he would have laughed. “School was not a particularly happy place for me,” he says. But once he started teaching, Bridgers came to love the classroom. “I literally enjoyed

Dr. John Demidowicz, professor emeritus of Spanish, liked to play a little joke on the first day of class. He would let a golf ball slip out of his pocket and tell the students, in Spanish of course, that he was on the golf course when he remembered he had to teach. “You ruined a great game,” he would say.

Invariably, they would laugh, and that was just what he wanted. “A burst of laughter is like an unexpected quiz, “ he says. “It shows they understand.”

“I can’t imagine a curriculum that would prepare me for life as well as the Industrial Arts program at Oswego from 1950 to 1953,” says Kenvyn Richards ’53. “I learned so much that was practical and it has served me well for the last 60 years.” It served him so well, that he made it his life’s work, first teaching in the public schools in the Middleburgh School District and later as professor of industrial arts, now called technology education, at his alma mater.

Dr. Ronald A Brown’s teaching philosophy can be summed up in three letters: F-U-N.
When he joined the Oswego faculty in 1971, the physics department was fighting for survival. It had few majors, and needed to attract non-majors to remain viable. With a bachelor’s degree from Drexel University and master’s and doctorate from Purdue, Brown was hired away from Kent State. His mission: to make physics understandable for those fulfilling general education requirements and elementary education majors looking for fun ways to incorporate science into their classrooms. Vowing not to “kill ’em with calculus,” he devised his own method of hands-on, play-based instruction.